Hot, Hot and Hotter

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With constant sunshine and sweltering heat occupying more than half the day your cost to keep your buildings cool can be expensive, not to mention a heavy strain on energy stores. Your roof exposed to solar rays is a huge surface area of sun soaking and heat trapping material, unless you have a “cool” roof. A “cool” roof has the ability to reflect solar rays (solar reflectance) and radiate absorbed heat (thermal emittance). “Cool” roofs don’t only depend on roofing products. The type and amount of insulation and the building envelope efficiency also play a role in reducing roof and building temperature; thus reducing energy costs.

The higher the solar reflectance rate and the higher the emissivity of roofing material the lower the cost to cool and keep cool your buildings. Roofing products with high solar reflectance and high thermal emittance ratings can reduce the roof temperature by 50 degrees and save 10-15% on energy costs. That’s great news if you’re erecting a new building or getting ready to reroof an existing one – you’ll be able to choose the best and correct amount of insulation and roofing materials to ensure a “cool” roof. Upson Company can help design the best roof to meet your specific needs.

But what if you already have a roof? And you know it might not be the most energy efficient roof available on the market today. Well, we can help with that as well. Special coatings for most roofing material are available to help increase your roof’s solar reflectance and thermal emittance ratings, cooling an existing roof. Since, this is considered an upgrade you can earn Energy Star incentives. Yes, this entails some paperwork, but we can help with that too.

Coatings are like sunscreen for your roof. After a thorough cleaning, coating is applied to your roof. It adheres over your existing roof and can add extra life. However, if the existing roof is in disrepair a coating will only go so far in helping the expectant lifetime of the roof. Once a coating is applied your roof still needs to have regular maintenance annually or bi-annually.

If you want to go green get a green roof, a roof with plant vegetation. This type of roof is great at thermal emittance, but doesn’t reflect as much solar rays as other membranes or coatings. However, an additional benefit includes lowering the surrounding temperature around the plants with evapotranspiration. Upson Company has installation experience with green roofing on BSU’s College of Business and Economics building.

And what if you’re one of the lucky ones with a new “cool” roof? Regular roof maintenance is a must to maintain proper roof health. Roofs can’t clean themselves and it’s hard for the roof material to reflect the sun’s rays with a coating of dust or piles debris. But once again, good news: Upson Company can help protect your investment and help you keep saving on energy costs.